[0:00] It kind of felt like a message coming out of the 14th verse of Hebrews chapter 1 on angels. And so that's what we're going to be talking about this morning. And so stand with me. And this is one of those one-verse sermons.

[0:21] That's how we end up getting on a topic here. Yeah, we don't really teach topical until the topic comes out of the, you know, verse-by-verse teaching of the Word. And so just the one verse there, chapter 1, Hebrews, verse 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Lord, we thank you for your Word. we ask Holy Spirit, you know, once again, that you have your way in our hearts and in our lives. Lord, so often you're speaking on different things for each of us, but the main thing is, Lord, is that each of us hear from you. And so bless this time we have together and in the Word, and we ask that you would work supernaturally in our hearts and in our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So you can be seated. The title of the message is Guardian Angels.

[1:34] And the subject, of course, is angels. Last week, that was the subject of the text. When we look through verses 5 through 14, was that Jesus is better than the angels. Okay, that was last week's topic. And after going through those verses, as we did, that conclusion would be, Jesus is not even to be compared to angels. You know, he is God and he is to be worshipped. And we learn angels are servants. They serve God and they serve the heirs of salvation. The heirs of salvation, all believers. And also notice that last part there where it says there, and those who will inherit salvation. So, those that will become Christians, hmm.

[2:37] That's interesting, isn't it? You know, we hear so much about things like that. And I'm sure that, you know, you've heard it said or said it yourself, I shouldn't even be alive today. After all, I've been through. You know, we all have our stories, I'm sure, and experiences, and some more intense than others, living on the edge. And I shouldn't even been alive today. Somehow or another, I made it through all that. I wonder why. And now I'm a Christian. Hmm. That sort of lines up there with that last part of that verse. When I was 18 years old, four or five months since I had become a Christian, and that would be in the early December 1975, 1975. I was in a terrible traffic accident, really bad. My cousin was driving and he ended up crippled for the rest of his life.

[3:46] But we were in a 66 Impala, and it was not real early in the morning because the buses were already pulling up to a school, dropping off the kids, and so whatever time that was. And we were at a stop sign. My cousin took off from the stop sign, and I look over, and there's, I think it was a 59 Cadillac coming very fast. And so I yelled out, Alan, and he looked, and he tried to, he stepped on the gas, but the car kind of stalled out for enough time that the Cadillac, at about 65 miles an hour, they measured the skid marks was about 20 feet, was all. Hit right there in front where I was sitting, I was sitting passenger, and crushed the whole car to the center. And I was knocked out. I watched it. I put my arm up and watched the accident with my eyes open. And, of course, all that glass blew out in my eyes and my face and everything. Well, I was knocked out. I remember kind of waking up in a field across the other side of the intersection.

[5:03] And the ambulances came and we were in the hospital. And anyway, so I ended up in the hospital. My cousin had a surgery that, you know, left him paralyzed and unable to talk. And my dad later told me that he couldn't even recognize me when he came in to visit me. And yet, three days later, the doctor said that I'd never have 20-20 vision again. I could see all of you very clearly. And three days later, I had 20-20 vision, and my face peeled like a mask. And the Lord healed me. I didn't have a bruised one on my body. And you can see where the door wrapped around me. Not one bruise anywhere.

[5:54] And so, I thought, wow, that was the Lord. That was the Lord's hand protecting me. That didn't wrap around my body, because if it would have, I would have been bruised, broken bones, whatever. The car was crushed in. I saw the car afterwards. If I'd had a seatbelt on, I'd have been cut in half, you know, because seatbelts are meant for forward accidents, not side. But that was the days when you didn't have to wear a seatbelt. Anyway, so, and it was really interesting because my, you know, times were real lean. I remember my dad hawking my mom's engagement ring to pay the hospital bill. Because that was the day that people paid hospital bills. You know, this is how much you get all the insurance paid so much. this is how much you owe, you know, your son's going to be getting out, this is how much you owe, my dad went and got the money. Well, it was shortly after that that we ended up back in the pawn shop.

[6:57] And I think at that time it was my dad came up with the cash to get my mom's ring back. I mean, people really were careful to pay their bills back then. And so he said to me, he says, Anthony, what do you want for Christmas? And I knew he didn't have no money. We wouldn't have been in a pawn shop. And I said, no, don't get anything from me. You know, my sisters, they're all young. And my brother, he was younger than I was. And he goes, well, no, I understand. But if I can get you something for Christmas, you know, what would you like? Well, I happened to be, while he was taking care of business, looking at this cool little banjo that was hanging there in the pawn shop. I used banjo. And I go, well, that banjo is kind of cool, you know. And he goes, okay. And he said to the guy, he says, how much for the banjo?

[7:51] And so he put it in the machine, added the tax. Let's say it was $89.72.

[8:01] So just so I didn't miss it as a young Christian, this is a bonus to the whole account. Because my dad said, oh, that's interesting. And he reaches into his pocket. He had gotten the check back from the hospital for overpaying them. The exact money as that banjo. $89.42, let's say. The check was $89.42. And he signed the back of it and gave it to the guy, just in case you didn't miss it. And so there goes my lessons as a new believer. And not with very much Bible knowledge, by the way, But that had an impact in my life early on that the Lord wanted to begin to teach me.

[8:55] But why would this be a subject to address? Because angels are supernatural beings, powerful and amazing. And men and women will worship them and have a warped view of them. Because people do worship rock stars. You know, they worship the royal family and movie stars and athletes and saints, etc. Politicians and on and on people worship. We have this innate desire to worship people.

[9:38] And we're to worship only the Lord. And so the Bible is clear, and there is to be no exceptions. Matthew chapter 4, 8 through 11. And again, this is the devil tempting Jesus. He took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered. And so, see that? Jesus, following a very severe trial, he subjected himself to a body of flesh, and he was at a point of almost to death at this point when Satan came, tempting him. We see the angels respond then. So, in other words, the angels are responding to a time factor built into God's plan.

[11:05] And usually that time factor is what's so puzzling when the Lord sends the help that we've been praying for and asking for. And so, and it gets us asking a lot of questions and, that time factor that sometimes we just don't understand. But the words that are used there in Matthew 4.11, when the angels came and it says, and ministered to him, it's the same word we find in Hebrews 1.14. Here it's the verb form. In Hebrews 14, it's the noun form, but it means to attend to, to serve, to wait upon. It's a big word with a big meaning, covers a lot of ground, to provide for the very necessities of life, to bring relief, basically attending to anything necessary for one's well-being. That's the angel's ministry. And so they're not to be taken lightly, but our enemy in the spiritual realm, as illustrated here.

[12:21] Wouldn't be for us, Satan coming, you know, he has bigger fishes to fry, but he has a lot of help. So he sends whoever it is representing that evil or wicked realm, and they come against us. And you notice in this account, the enemy wants Jesus to have a misdirected worship.

[12:49] And this book of Hebrews is actually dealing with that whole thing, misdirected worship. And so if he would try that on Jesus, how much more would he try it upon us? A misdirected worship. So we have to be clear on that. And so we will encounter, you know, the other subjects as we're traveling through the book of Hebrews. And when we get to those, we'll deal with those. But the subject here is angels. And yes, they are amazing creatures. And yes, there is a historical record that is phenomenal concerning them. Their power is from God. They are created by God to serve him. And he gave them an assignment. You know what that assignment is? To serve us. You know, it's amazing because they show up even more. So I remember right in the New Testament than the Old Testament. And, excuse me, they, even in the book of Revelation, you see them mentioned in every single chapter, but two chapters. And if I memorize chapter four and chapter 13. So in the end times book, in the end times scenario, there's angels. All the way through again, all the way to the end. So angels are part of God's operations.

[14:13] God doesn't need to use angels. He's chosen to use angels. And it's amazing. It makes things more intriguing, I guess. I'm not really sure. Doesn't matter. That's what he chose to do. And it's pretty neat when you think about it. But their power is from God. And yes, they are active today on planet Earth, behind the scenes, mostly out of sight, but can also materialize. And you may never even know it. You know, we have that when we get to the last chapter of Hebrews. We have that in verse 2. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. So without even their knowledge is what that means, knowing their identity, they've had an encounter.

[15:12] And I find that interesting. You know, there's a couple of passages. You won't see these on the screen because I just looked them up last minute.

[15:20] But, you know, it tells us in 2 Kings, actually. And it says, this is when Elisha is being pursued by the enemy and his servant is freaked out over the whole thing. And it says, And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? Just freaking out. So he answered, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw. Saw, behold, the mountains was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Elisha knew it by faith, but for the sake of his young servant, he said, open his eyes. And then we have in Psalm 103, 20 and 21, bless the Lord, you his angels who excel in strength, who do his word, heeding the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his host, you ministers of his who do his pleasure, So once again, doing the work of the Lord. And so...

[16:45] So they're there protecting us physically, watching over us, all according to God's plan. And I remember when I was serving in Lake Elsinore, Calvary Chapel there for about 10 years, helping the pastor. I was an assistant pastor, not really recognized for half of that time because we didn't really have titles. But eventually, you know, having the title of an assistant pastor there. But Pastor John Duncan, it seemed at least or almost once a year, he was in the hospital for something. Life-threatening.

[17:26] Crazy thorn in the flesh and things that he had to deal with. I was just, you know, we're always praying for him and all that. And, of course, the church is always praying for him. And I remember on one occasion that he told us what happened in the wee hours of the night. There was a male nurse that was tending to his needs and caring for him. And he just felt, you know, that special care that, you know, he was receiving. So when morning came and they had a shift change. And just before his release, he and his wife, Debbie, they inquired about this nurse. And they wanted his name. They wanted to thank him, give him a card to show appreciation for how wonderful he had taken care of John and so forth. They told them that there was no male nurse that worked at the hospital. And so you can draw your own conclusions. But we all came to the conclusion was the Lord sent an angel to take care of him that night.

[18:30] And he said, and it was really weird, and it was really strange, because twice he thought, this man's really beautiful. And he thought, he shook his head thinking, what am I thinking? Must be the pain medication, you know, or something. And so, but you know, sometimes the Lord does that just to encourage us. And you know, angels weren't like regularly there, visibly there, you know, all through the scriptures, but behind the scenes, they're always there. So they're, you know, angels are on assignment and they show up all through the scripture for all the way from Genesis to Revelation. I'm not going to stop now.

[19:11] And I remember reading that, you know, again, that they show up more in Scripture than the New Testament. And either way, angels are still at work. And there have been bestseller books on angels. I remember Billy Graham wrote a whole book and was dedicated to angels. The name of the book, Angels, God's Secret Agents. A great title. But of course, Hollywood has to come up with movies, you know, knowing that they will be popular because people are drawn to the supernatural. And certainly they were top sellers whenever that subject is made into a movie. There are some fun old movies you might have heard of. It's a Wonderful Life. The angel Clarence, you know, and Jimmy Stewart was the actor. And anybody see that movie? If you haven't seen the movie, you got to see the movie. Yeah. It's like one of my favorite movies. I watch it every time around Christmas time, a couple times even. It's a great movie. But then also there's another one. It's called The Bishop's Wife.

[20:27] Anybody see that? Cary Grant? Yeah. You guys got to watch these movies. The Bishop's Wife, you got to write that one down. And Dudley was the angel's name there. And then, of course, there's crazy ones like Angel and the Outfields, where the angels are helping them win a baseball game. Yeah.

[20:49] And, you know, of course, Hollywood, you know, they have to. They have to put their spin on things. They're fun to watch. But they got one thing right. There are angels. Angels exist. They are active in our world.

[21:05] And I even heard that there's entire stores devoted now to angels. Did you ever hear that?

[21:13] Well, I haven't found one yet, but supposedly there's entire stories devoted to angels. And yet, the correct biblical view of angels is they are nothing more than servants, powerful beings, but servants. That's what the Bible teaches us. Whose servants? Well, first God's servants. That's why they serve, they've been created to serve God, to glorify Him. And then God has them serving the heirs of salvation who are Christians and those who will become Christians. That's the exciting thing. My cousin Carlo, I've shared about before, thought he was the most amazing soldier in Vietnam because he was an amazing soldier in Vietnam. Matter of fact, he had such an amazing record in Vietnam that he was nominated to guard the president of the United States. Not very many of them get nominated for that. Didn't work out, but it was just the fact he was nominated. His war record was amazing. He had blown up twice and never left the field. He was given what they call hard stripes from a general because his lieutenant and sergeant were killed the course of combat. He made 25 drops into enemy territory to clear it for the Americans, soldiers.

[22:41] When he was first over there his watch got caught on a bush and he couldn't get his arm down while all the leaves got hit, shredded off of the bush he was behind, and not one bullet hit him. He threw a grenade into a grass, you know, hut, only to have a sergeant, before he was killed, knock him down into a ditch so when the grenade went off, he wasn't killed. And on and on, he thought, wow, man, he's the greatest soldier ever. It wasn't until he got saved, maybe 10 years after his military service, that he realized why he was still alive and how he was still alive. Because God kept him alive. And who does God use? Angels. You know, some angels, I think, have to work overtime in some of our lives. You know, I would, you know, I mean, time would never permit, but I could share time and time again when that was certainly the fact with me.

[23:45] And, and, and yet, you know, here I am and I give all the credit to, to the Lord's protection. You know, I read to start with Psalm 91, 11, where it says, For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. You know, if you read later in Luke chapter 15, there you'll see that the angels rejoice when someone becomes a Christian. I often thought of that. Well, the angels rejoice when somebody becomes a Christian. And I thought, well, I wonder, it's because they're part in keeping the person alive to the point that they could get saved. And finally, it's like, praise the Lord. Mission complete. Okay, next. Then they move on. You know, I don't know if you ever thought about that, but I sure did. You know, I think it's some sort of club of angels in heaven. They sort of have compare notes, you know, and they move on. And the notch is in their belt or something, I don't know. But then there's Luke chapter 16, you see before the resurrection, you see angels carrying God's people into the eternal state.

[25:01] Was Abraham's bosom. And so that's interesting. And then you see in the New Testament, Acts chapter 5 and Acts chapter 12, where you see Peter broke out of prison, angel broke him out of prison. You know, and others got out of prison because of angels. We'll read one of those accounts in a second, but angels certainly have a ministry to serve us. They minister to us, but here's key, but only God's Spirit can minister in us. So they minister to us, only God's Spirit can minister in us. Just because they are spiritual beings, they should not be confused with the Holy Spirit. And the angels can protect us physically, but only God's Son can save us spiritually. And so, in Psalm 34, 7 says, The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them. And so, this is an account that was in Billy Graham's book, The Angels, God's Secret Agents. And there's an account, and there's lots of accounts. I just had to pick one.

[26:21] That is, quote, the Reverend John G. Patton, a missionary in the new Hybrides Islands, told a story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning out the Pattons and killing them. John Patton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came, they were amazed to see the attackers unaccountably leave. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ, and Patton remembered what happened and asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. And the chief replied in surprise, Well, who were all those men you had there with you? The missionary answered and said, There were no men there, just my wife and I. And the chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard.

[27:32] Hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle a mission station so that natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Reverend Patton realize that God had sent his angels to protect them. And that's cited in Billy Graham's book.

[27:56] And so, you know, they didn't see him, but they were there. Their enemy saw them. I think that's interesting. Because by faith, can you see the angels that surround you? And, you know, I would say that I didn't just, I didn't read about it first. I experienced it. And then I read about it and say, oh, that's what happened. And since then, that's what's happened. And now by faith, I go, I know what's happening.

[28:25] Just don't know maybe fine details, but I know what's happening. And so, although there are many historical accounts and even personal accounts, what matters most is the biblical accounts. Because in the biblical accounts, there's no embellishing, there's no exaggerating. It's a flawless account accounting the system in God's Word. And so, that's what matters most of all. And so, even if you've never personally encountered, by faith you read it in the Scriptures and you believe what God has to say. Back in Genesis 18, you might read that later, it has recorded the account of angels appearing to Abraham. And where it is showing in that account, what would a resurrected body look like that Jesus had after he resurrected was the type of bodies that they would have, you know...

[29:26] In when they came up to Abraham. And because, you know, we see in that they were able to eat with Abraham. It tells us in Genesis 18, 8, so he took butter and milk and the calf, which he had prepared and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree as they ate. And of course, you know, the scriptures reveal that being the angels that came. And also in the next chapter, two of the angels went on to Sodom and Gomorrah, and it's recorded there in Genesis 19, 1-3. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. He said, Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet, and you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly, so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. And so they were in bodies like we have.

[30:44] And so we see that account in Scripture. And I think a powerful illustration of that is in Acts chapter 12, when Peter is broken out of prison, and it says, Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some of the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. So you have to stop there because God's plan is perfect. He didn't send angels there to save James. But his plan was that James would be martyred there. And so it's trusting God, even when, you know, things like that wouldn't make sense. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the days of the unleavened bread.

[31:37] So, bulletproof until, you know, God's done with us, or swordproof or whatever. You know, God wasn't done with Peter yet, so God's plan was different. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. It's a 24-hour prayer. And when Herod was about to bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers.

[32:17] The guards before the door were keeping the prison. He was well watched and guarded and sleeping. How would you, you know, before your stay of execution, would you just be sleeping calmly? Peter was sleeping. Now, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him. Stood by him. Now, I want to mention something here. God didn't need an angel to deliver him from prison. God uses angels. I mean, hopefully we've all got that so far. Why? Don't know. He just chooses to, just like he chooses to use us. Why? I don't know. You know, he has to really work with us, but he uses us. And so an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison, and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, arise quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. It's like, wake up. And Peter's sleeping. It pulls him up. You know, we got to get going. Why? Why? I don't know. He's in a rush. Angels are in a rush in this case. He had a time frame. And then the angel said to him, gird yourself and tie on your sandals. And so he did. And he said to him, put on your garments and follow me. So Peter's still waking up, groggy, whatever. And he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

[33:47] And when they were past the first and the second guard post, They came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord. And they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. You know, when you look up the word departed, the angel didn't disappear. He just made sure Peter was still standing and said, see you later. And he just took off down the alleyway.

[34:16] But the crazy thing is there is that, you know, you see that the encounter was with a real man, as far as Peter was concerned, and not even knowing what was going on. And so that's the account of Scripture, which, you know, is encouraging just to see that. There's many other accounts. You know, in the Old Testament, read later, 2 Kings 19, you see an angel. He slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night, one angel. And if you remember in Matthew 26, Jesus said, Don't you think that I could call upon 12 legions of angels right now to deliver me, which would be 72,000 angels, a legion being 6,000? I can call 72,000 angels right now to deliver me from going on the cross, but then how would God's will be fulfilled? Can you imagine 72,000 angels when one angel killed 185,000 fighting men in one night and didn't even wake up the sleeping people in the tents? That's efficiency, you know?

[35:32] That's even, yeah, better than what we did in Venezuela. You know, that's efficiency. But anyway, so what should we take away from this message?

[35:45] Know that behind the scenes, our guardian angels are on duty 24-7. That should give us a great peace. God's will is being fulfilled by God's choosing and planning and commission. Also, be confident because just the fact that you're here now today and not dead, understand is because you're being taken care of. Because if the enemy wasn't kept at bay, he'd come in like a flood and you would be done and I would be done. This is the spiritual realm often out of our view. And if we weren't dead, we'd be being tormented in some way. But we're not. Hopefully you're not. That's God's hand upon you. And we have peace. We have peace. We have salvation. We have a future and a hope. And the only reason for this is that God is keeping back that tide of evil, keeping at bay the enemy. If he could, he'd come in and wipe us out. And I want to finish this message with one last verse in Psalm 46.1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. And I don't know if you've ever made this connection, but that present help is God using angels all around us.

[37:12] And angels are commissioned to do His bidding.

[37:17] That's what happens when it says that, you know, he's a present help in time of trouble. And, you know, some of us keep angels or guardian angels a little bit busier than others, for sure. Like I said, I've got a count after a count where I shouldn't be here today. And I am, and I know why now. And I hope that today, if you didn't know why, you know why now. And also that if you didn't know, that you know that God's got you covered. His plan is perfect for you. Trust in Him, have faith in Him, rest in Him, know Him. If you don't know Him, ask Him into your heart today to reveal Himself to you. The Bible says that those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[38:11] And it's a recognition that we need a Savior and that we're sinners. We need to be forgiven. And we're forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. Our sins are taken away. And so that when we breathe our last breath here, we'll breathe our first breath in heaven. Amen. So let's stand together. If you need prayer today, come on forward. Guys will be here to pray with you. There's snacks downstairs if you want to hang out and fellowship. Lord, thank you so much again for your word that instructs us, that gives us understanding. We ask, Lord, that you would continue to build that faith in us. We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. And we also know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so we pray that that truth would connect itself in our hearts and minds, that we can rest and have that peace that passes understanding, despite the circumstances that we're dealing with, Lord. I just ask that everyone here would connect with you in that way and in your word have peace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.